616: Lifestyle Creep, Luck, and Why Every Podcast Guest Has an Online Course: Q&A w/ Nick

0:00:06 We’re talking lifestyle creep, the role of luck, inadvertently breaking a bunch of links.
0:00:10 And why does it seem like every podcast guest is selling an online course?
0:00:11 What’s up?
0:00:12 What’s up?
0:00:13 Nick Loper here.
0:00:14 Welcome to The Side Hustle Show.
0:00:16 Light on the theory, heavy on the tactics.
0:00:18 It’s the business podcast you can actually apply.
0:00:23 And today we’re diving into the listener mailbag for a little Q&A session.
0:00:25 First question that came through, I love this one.
0:00:27 Why are so many guests selling an online course?
0:00:28 That was a listener question.
0:00:29 I got recently.
0:00:30 I thought it was a good one.
0:00:31 It shows you’re paying attention.
0:00:34 First of all, there is some truth to that perception.
0:00:38 I looked at the last two years, the last 100 Side Hustle Show episodes.
0:00:45 In between 20 and 30% of them featured a guest that had a course or a product directly related
0:00:46 to what we were talking about.
0:00:47 So why does that happen?
0:00:49 There’s a few reasons.
0:00:55 First, it’s kind of been the unwritten rule of media for decades, whether it’s TV, talk
0:00:56 shows, radio, and now podcasts.
0:00:58 Look, you help me with content.
0:01:02 My audience is going to find helpful or entertaining, and I give you a platform to drive exposure
0:01:03 for your thing.
0:01:07 It could be the new season of your show, your book, your podcast, your upcoming movie, your
0:01:12 service offering, or what’s common in the entrepreneurial world, especially the entrepreneurial
0:01:14 podcast world, your online course.
0:01:18 Now, another thing to consider is it’s hard to expect somebody to give up an hour of their
0:01:23 time for that interview, especially if they’re busy entrepreneurs, and especially like in
0:01:28 the case of the Side Hustle Show, if the expectation is going to be, you’re going to be sharing
0:01:32 behind-the-scenes stuff about how your business works to potentially create more competition
0:01:37 for yourself if there’s nothing in it for that guest, just like you don’t usually see
0:01:41 your favorite celebrity making the rounds, doing interviews, unless they’ve got something
0:01:42 to promote.
0:01:43 The podcast world operates similarly.
0:01:50 Now, I don’t know if other broadcast media is the same way, like our guests paying to
0:01:56 be on Jimmy Fallon, but some podcasts actually charge guests a multi-thousand dollar appearance
0:02:01 fee for the exposure they’re going to get as a result of being a guest on that show.
0:02:04 To be clear, I’ve never charged guests to be on the Side Hustle Show.
0:02:09 I can only imagine how difficult that would be to not turn every single episode into a
0:02:12 thinly veiled infomercial if that were the case.
0:02:13 I love it.
0:02:16 I love it when I get a guest who is purely excited to share their story.
0:02:19 When there’s no call to action, they just want to give back.
0:02:21 They want to motivate and inspire others.
0:02:26 For the Side Hustle Show specifically, I’m in the fortunate enough position that that
0:02:29 actually happens a decent percentage of the time.
0:02:31 Listeners reach out, “Hey, I listened to this episode.
0:02:32 I took action.
0:02:36 I’d love to share my story,” but when that does, a funny thing happens.
0:02:41 I get listeners messaging me, “Hey, loved your episode with so-and-so.
0:02:42 What’s the best way to get in touch with them?”
0:02:47 I’m thinking about starting the business that they talked about just out of a few questions.
0:02:52 It happens often enough that have ad guests reach back out after a few months and say,
0:02:55 “Hey, I’m thinking about creating an online course because I had so many people looking
0:02:58 for you or even paid consulting on their topic.”
0:03:02 An online course could be a great way to leverage their expertise.
0:03:03 Here’s the thing.
0:03:08 It’s my job as the podcast host to make the content compelling and helpful even if you
0:03:13 don’t want to buy the book, even if you don’t want to see the movie or enroll in the course.
0:03:17 After this model, we all get free content paid for by advertisers.
0:03:20 I try to make sure my guests have a great experience.
0:03:27 Sure, I am happy when they see positive results, of course, but my primary responsibility is
0:03:28 to you.
0:03:29 That’s the most important thing.
0:03:33 My primary responsibility is to the audience because if I’m not serving you, if I’m not
0:03:38 making your life better in some way, it doesn’t take long before I don’t have an audience
0:03:39 anymore.
0:03:43 In any case, I thought that was a great observation, a thoughtful question about why so many guests
0:03:47 seem to have an online course, and hopefully this sheds a little bit more light on why
0:03:49 that is.
0:03:54 If you have a guest in mind with nothing to sell but a great story, send them my way.
0:03:58 Question two is, “I want to sell my Urban Gardening blog.
0:04:02 Do you have any tips for being proactive in finding a buyer besides putting it up for
0:04:04 sale on Flipa?”
0:04:06 This was a question from the Facebook group.
0:04:10 I think that’s awesome that you have set your business up for an exit, and yes, Flipa and
0:04:14 other marketplaces are definitely a viable option.
0:04:19 We’re not seeing multiples as high as we did a few years ago with content sites selling
0:04:24 for 35 to 45 times monthly earnings in some cases, but it can still be a great payday.
0:04:31 My first thought here is to look for other gardening or home-related publishers that
0:04:37 might see your site as a strategic acquisition, either to keep as a standalone brand or under
0:04:43 an online media umbrella, or to fold into their larger content site.
0:04:48 I swear I saw an example of this where somebody was buying up competitors, but keeping them
0:04:52 operating separately, and they ended up in a unique position where they owned half of
0:04:56 the first page of Google listings for a bunch of different keywords, didn’t matter what
0:04:59 you clicked on, there was one parent company behind half of those listings.
0:05:04 The reason I would look for that kind of strategic buyer is probably going to get a better price
0:05:10 from somebody who knows the space, they’ve got maybe a future vision of your site as
0:05:12 a piece of that broader business.
0:05:16 That’s probably where I would look first and do a little proactive outreach there.
0:05:20 Question three is, let’s talk lifestyle creep.
0:05:22 As your income grows, how much do you allow?
0:05:26 This one came from the ChooseFI Facebook group.
0:05:28 Lifestyle creep is a quick definition.
0:05:33 If you’re not familiar with that term, it’s the tendency for your expenses to creep up
0:05:37 as your income grows, and I think that’s fine.
0:05:41 Provided you’re spending on things that improve your quality of life, you work hard for that,
0:05:42 so enjoy it, right?
0:05:47 But it’s also important to do that with a full understanding of both the costs, the
0:05:50 near term costs, and the opportunity costs.
0:05:54 Your savings rate, your personal profitability as a household, how much is left over after
0:05:59 all your expenses, that’s the single biggest lever that you have on your path to financial
0:06:00 independence.
0:06:04 If you make a lot and spend very little, it doesn’t take long before your assets can
0:06:09 cover your lifestyle, on paper at least, and you can find all sorts of calculators online
0:06:14 to show you that every $100 you save today is really worth $400 in 30 years or something,
0:06:18 but you have to couple with that with, I could get hit by a bus tomorrow.
0:06:19 Life’s short.
0:06:24 You got to find a way to enjoy the present, to enjoy the journey while not screwing your
0:06:29 future self, but the idea that you’re going to live super frugally for 15 to 20 years to
0:06:34 achieve fire, financial independence, retire early, and then all of a sudden turn on that
0:06:36 spending habit, that’s not realistic.
0:06:38 Frugal habits die hard.
0:06:43 It’s something that Bert and I have experienced firsthand where we’ll be stressing, stressing
0:06:48 is probably a strong word, but contemplating, should we buy this thing that the kids need?
0:06:51 Maybe it’s the next size up for a pair of shoes or something because it’s on sale and
0:06:53 the sale ends tonight.
0:06:57 But if we buy them not on sale, it’s only an extra 20 bucks.
0:07:01 In the nature of retail, there’s probably another sale coming down the road in a few
0:07:03 months when he might actually need them.
0:07:08 Our fixed expenses, thinking about the lifestyle creep thing, our fixed expenses probably maxed
0:07:10 out when we had both boys in preschool four days a week.
0:07:16 I don’t remember the exact number, but I’m sure it was over $3,000 a month.
0:07:21 And now that they’re both in school, to have that coming back to the bottom line, it’s
0:07:24 a lot easier to justify some conscious lifestyle creep.
0:07:28 There’s three grand that we were previously spending that were not anymore.
0:07:31 Could we spend one of it to make life better in some way?
0:07:32 Could we spend two of it?
0:07:34 It’s like you weren’t missing it when it wasn’t there.
0:07:39 In our case, that’s been things like paying for the more convenient airport parking.
0:07:41 It’s been making some home improvements.
0:07:45 It’s going to the workout classes we like, even though it’s more than working out at
0:07:46 home.
0:07:50 It’s hitting the easy button on occasion with takeout and meal delivery, where we’ve
0:07:58 been hesitant when it comes to lifestyle creep is committing to long-term increased expenses.
0:08:02 Like you would if you bought a bigger house, along with that comes the bigger mortgage,
0:08:07 the higher property taxes, the higher utilities, or really any recurring service.
0:08:10 You got to be sure it’s really worth it.
0:08:14 And to be fair, a lot of these are fairly low risk, pretty easily reversible.
0:08:19 The bigger challenge is dealing with the mental fallout of the lifestyle slipping, the opposite
0:08:21 of lifestyle creep.
0:08:25 If you find yourself needing to cut back on spending because your income suddenly decreases
0:08:31 and that means giving up on luxuries you’ve grown accustomed to, it feels like a big loss.
0:08:35 Even if the trimmed back version is still a perfectly healthy lifestyle, that’s where
0:08:38 the hedonic adaptation comes into play here.
0:08:41 It’s pretty easy to get used to a certain level of convenience and comfort and hard to
0:08:45 go back to a place where that’s no longer feasible.
0:08:48 Even if it’s still better off than people were 50 years ago, 100 years ago, we could
0:08:53 talk about this stuff for hours and which specific lifestyle upgrades are worth it.
0:08:55 But that’s how we tend to think about it.
0:08:59 Spending definitely became easier as our income increased and it’s become easier when certain
0:09:04 big ticket expenses like childcare went away and it became easier after hitting financial
0:09:09 independence number we were comfortable with or at least a cost-fi number we were comfortable
0:09:10 with.
0:09:13 But take a look at your income and expenses and if you have a big gap to play with and
0:09:18 you’re happy with where you’re at work wise, absolutely enjoy the fruits of your labor,
0:09:20 let that lifestyle creep a little bit.
0:09:25 I’ve got more Q&A coming up right after this.
0:09:28 That’s the sound of another sale on your online Shopify store.
0:09:32 But did you know Shopify powers in-person selling too?
0:09:33 It’s true.
0:09:40 Shopify is the sound of selling everywhere, online, in-store, on social media, and beyond.
0:09:42 Shopify POS is your command center for your retail store.
0:09:47 That means you can accept payments, manage inventory, and track every sale across your
0:09:48 business in one place.
0:09:52 With Shopify, you get a powerhouse selling partner that helps you drive store traffic
0:09:57 with plug-and-play tools built for marketing campaigns from TikTok to Instagram and beyond.
0:10:02 You can take payments by smartphone, transform your tablet into a point-of-sale system, or
0:10:06 use Shopify’s POS Go mobile device for a battle-tested solution.
0:10:11 Plus, Shopify’s award-winning help is there to support your success every step of the
0:10:12 way.
0:10:14 You can also get a retail right with Shopify.
0:10:20 Go ahead, sign up for a $1 per month trial period at Shopify.com/SideHussell.
0:10:21 That’s all lowercase.
0:10:31 Go to Shopify.com/SideHussell to take your retail business to the next level today — Shopify.com/SideHussell.
0:10:35 As business owners, we understand that good design and product packaging can be key to
0:10:36 growing your business.
0:10:40 And if your sales are lagging, a rebrand might be part of the solution.
0:10:44 Still, it can be really challenging to figure out how to even start the process.
0:10:48 If you’re asking yourself, “Ah, is a rebrand really worth the effort and the cost,” you’re
0:10:54 going to want to check out a recent episode of a great podcast called “This Is Small Business”
0:10:58 with Andrea Marquez that walks you through the process of figuring this out.
0:11:02 The episode is called “How Good Design Can Help Increase Sales,” where I learned that
0:11:05 design is so much more than just aesthetics.
0:11:10 It impacts user experience, it impacts brand perception, and ultimately, it impacts business
0:11:11 growth.
0:11:15 “This Is Small Business” is full of practical insights that you can apply to your business
0:11:16 right now.
0:11:20 And it answers so many of the kinds of questions that all entrepreneurs have, like how to build
0:11:25 your marketing strategy, how to use email lists to increase revenue, and tips to accelerate
0:11:28 small business growth, along with tons more.
0:11:33 So follow “This Is Small Business,” an original podcast from Amazon, wherever you listen.
0:11:37 Question four is, “I noticed your email links are all broken.
0:11:38 What’s going on?
0:11:39 What happened?”
0:11:44 Well, what happened was, in March, we switched from Active Campaign to ConvertKit, and one
0:11:49 of the unintended consequences of that move was all the Active Campaign links died, seven
0:11:51 years of them.
0:11:54 Not a great user experience for people who kept those emails in their inbox to refer
0:11:57 back to, but that’s what happened.
0:11:58 Sorry about that.
0:11:59 And why the move?
0:12:00 Why the change?
0:12:02 A few reasons for that.
0:12:05 I mean, first of all, Active Campaign, great tool, super powerful.
0:12:11 I was attracted to ConvertKit by their investments and their commitment to the broader creator
0:12:12 economy.
0:12:18 They’ve added a ton of cool features, including subscriber referral programs, their sponsor
0:12:22 network, their creator network, which truthfully haven’t fully explored yet, but unlike in
0:12:24 the platform so far, it’s funny.
0:12:30 The interface and design is miles ahead of where Active Campaign is, and there are some
0:12:34 really thoughtful features, but there’s other stuff where it’s like, “Dude, I kind of liked
0:12:35 it better the old way.
0:12:37 I liked it better the Active Campaign way.”
0:12:43 My frustration with Active Campaign was my inability to reach anyone when I had questions
0:12:46 about my account and specifically about a big price increase.
0:12:52 I’m of the thinking that, look, everything is negotiable, and that was my intent.
0:12:55 I would have liked to have thought of myself as a fairly valuable long-term customer.
0:13:00 I’ve been with them since 2017, had over 100,000 subscribers, and to be fair, not knowing
0:13:06 a ton about the inner workings of running an email delivery business, but I had to imagine
0:13:10 they had some margin to play with price-wise to get me to stick around, but it was a big
0:13:11 challenge.
0:13:15 I was not impressed with that customer support or sales support.
0:13:19 They ended up stripping away some features from my account without even telling me.
0:13:24 I think they were banking on the switching costs, being too high, being too big of a
0:13:30 pain to actually do it and unravel the last seven years of opt-in forms and integrations
0:13:32 all across the internet, and it was a big pain.
0:13:36 It was a big project, which, to their credit, ConvertKit said, “Hey, we’ll handle it.
0:13:37 We want your business.
0:13:42 We’ll do the migration,” and they did, but overall, ConvertKit, I think, better feature-set,
0:13:46 a company that’s more in line with SideHustle Nation and the Creator Economy at a similar
0:13:47 price point.
0:13:50 It just happened that all the old email links broken.
0:13:54 All the new ones are working, all the ConvertKit ones are working, so for March forward, should
0:13:58 be just fine, but any emails before that probably have broken links in them.
0:14:02 If you find those, if you come across those and can’t find those resources through Google
0:14:05 or something else, let me know, and I’ll see if I can dig those up for you.
0:14:10 Question five is how much of success is attributed to luck?
0:14:16 Now, 15, 20 years ago, I would have wanted to dismiss luck almost entirely.
0:14:17 Go make your own luck.
0:14:18 The harder I work, the luckier I get, right?
0:14:25 Am I thinking on it has evolved a bit, hard work, being proactive, seizing an opportunity,
0:14:28 obviously, still super important.
0:14:33 But there definitely is an element of right place, right time, an element of luck in almost
0:14:34 everything that we do.
0:14:38 For example, I think it’s a lot harder to get attention for a new podcast today than
0:14:40 it was in 2013.
0:14:45 Do be sure, still fell crowded then, but nowhere near the level of quality and quantity of
0:14:47 competition that’s out there today.
0:14:52 Another example, my original SideHustle, the price comparison site for shoes, it started
0:14:59 out during a time when a relative beginner could still go out and buy profitable text
0:15:00 link ads from Google.
0:15:04 Sure, I put in the work, but that was lucky timing.
0:15:09 I never would have started that business had it not been for an internship with an online
0:15:14 shoe store during college, that I might never have even found out about that internship had
0:15:20 it not been for my roommate pointing out their little classified ad in our school newspaper.
0:15:21 That was lucky, right?
0:15:26 It was one of these seemingly insignificant at the time moments that turned out to be
0:15:29 a major turning point for the next 20 years.
0:15:32 It’s a weird fork in the road scenario to play out.
0:15:36 How different might life look if he didn’t share that with me?
0:15:38 But how can you increase your luck?
0:15:39 How can you improve your odds?
0:15:43 A friend of mine recently shared this article that has an answer to that.
0:15:48 It was called How to Increase Your Luck Surface Area written by Jason Roberts.
0:15:53 He writes, quote, “The amount of serendipity that will occur in your life, your luck surface
0:15:58 area, is directly proportional to the degree to which you do something you’re passionate
0:16:04 about combined with the total number of people to whom this is effectively communicated.”
0:16:09 It’s a simple concept, but an extremely powerful one because it implies that you can directly
0:16:12 control the amount of luck you receive.
0:16:16 In other words, you make your own luck, end quote.
0:16:17 So those are the two ingredients.
0:16:20 You work, you care about, share with others.
0:16:25 Creation plus marketing, product plus sales, increase your luck surface area.
0:16:26 I thought that was pretty cool.
0:16:31 Question six is how much do you need to earn on an annual basis for your side hustle to
0:16:32 be worth it?
0:16:37 Now, obviously, this is going to be extremely subjective based on your goals, your financial
0:16:41 situation, and how much time you’re investing into your side hustle.
0:16:45 On the one end of the spectrum, we can probably all agree if you’re hustling an extra 20 hours
0:16:49 a week and don’t have any income to show for it, not worth it, right?
0:16:53 Maybe the exception there is a startup phase of a business where you’re laying the foundation,
0:16:57 you’re building an audience, you’re building a product, and you expect to see revenue soon.
0:17:00 If you’re just spinning your wheels, clearly not worth it.
0:17:03 But how much do you have to make for it to be worth it?
0:17:08 My suggestion is to find a dollar amount that’s meaningful to you in some way.
0:17:09 It could be $100 a year.
0:17:10 It doesn’t matter.
0:17:14 And one way to do that is to find an expense that you want to erase.
0:17:19 I call this the side hustle snowball, how it works as you itemize out your monthly expenses
0:17:25 from smallest to largest, from your cell phone bill or life insurance or Netflix account or
0:17:30 gym membership all the way up to your car payment, your childcare, your rent, your mortgage.
0:17:34 And then I look for ways to erase those expenses with extra income.
0:17:36 How can I make my Netflix free?
0:17:38 Well, maybe I could sell something on eBay.
0:17:40 How can I cover my cell phone bill?
0:17:43 Well, maybe I could do a focus group or answer some surveys.
0:17:45 How can I cover my car payment?
0:17:47 Maybe I could start freelancing.
0:17:52 What this allows you to do is celebrate some smaller side hustle wins along the way, even
0:17:56 if it’s not replacing your day job income, even though you’re not going to retire early
0:17:57 from it.
0:18:01 It was still worth it, both from a financial standpoint, but hopefully also from a skills
0:18:05 learned or connections made standpoint.
0:18:08 Question seven is what kind of things can I rent out for a profit?
0:18:12 I heard about people doing inflatables and bounce houses, but I don’t think I could set
0:18:13 those up.
0:18:16 Well, I like rental businesses, you know, an opportunity to get paid over and over again
0:18:19 from an asset you buy once.
0:18:20 Inflatables are definitely one option.
0:18:24 If you’re not comfortable setting them up yourself, maybe you could hire a helper, but
0:18:28 some of the other rental businesses we’ve talked about, I’ll link up the episode numbers
0:18:31 and the resources for these in the show notes.
0:18:35 Other rental businesses we’ve talked about include portable hot tubs, photo booths for
0:18:38 brand activations and weddings and company parties.
0:18:41 We did mobility scooters somewhat recently.
0:18:46 We had a story about champagne walls at weddings, kind of this wooden nicely designed thing.
0:18:50 People can grab champagne off of little pegs, lots of different ideas.
0:18:54 Like down by our lake, there’s a company that from the outside looking in appears to be
0:18:59 doing a booming business renting out kayaks and paddleboards in the summer.
0:19:05 I think the key is finding those one-off items and tapping into some existing demand either
0:19:10 through an existing marketplace, through your own marketing efforts, through social media,
0:19:14 through SEO, or just by getting in front of people at the place where they’re looking
0:19:18 for that activity, like in the example of the kayaks.
0:19:19 Question eight was this.
0:19:20 I have a video camera.
0:19:21 Here’s another rental idea.
0:19:24 I’ve got a video camera I’m not using and was thinking of renting it out, but how do
0:19:25 I make sure I get it back?
0:19:28 My goal is to make $500 to $1,000 a month.
0:19:30 Do you think that’s doable?
0:19:35 If you’re renting it directly, person to person, you don’t want to have all of the contracts
0:19:39 and insurance and security deposits to make sure that you do get it back and you get it
0:19:45 back in the condition that you expect, but what’s probably easier and a potentially faster
0:19:49 way to connect with customers would be to use the buy buttons strategy of going where
0:19:51 the cash is already flowing.
0:19:54 If I want to rent out a video camera, where would I go?
0:19:58 What are the video rental marketplaces or camera gear marketplaces?
0:20:03 ShareGrid was one that I came across and in that example, they’re going to handle all
0:20:04 that back-end paperwork.
0:20:06 They’re going to verify insurance for your renters.
0:20:11 As far as the $500 to $1,000 a month goal, it seems feasible based on the rates that
0:20:17 I see on the site from $35 to $100 plus per day, depending on the type of equipment that
0:20:20 you have, but there’s really only one way to find out.
0:20:21 You got to test this stuff out.
0:20:23 You got to find out for yourself.
0:20:24 Maybe it works.
0:20:26 Maybe it doesn’t, but at least you’ll be doing something.
0:20:30 You’ll be increasing your luck surface area and maybe opening the doors to other opportunities
0:20:32 at the same time.
0:20:36 Number nine is I’m currently working on an AI-inspired Instagram page that just passed
0:20:38 1,900 followers.
0:20:40 I’d love to monetize it, but I’m not sure how.
0:20:45 Any advice on how to take an Instagram page from just artwork and followers to making
0:20:47 some side hustle money?
0:20:50 The way I see this one, I see a few different paths that this could go.
0:20:54 First off, you could provide a service and maybe not to your followers, but just a broader
0:20:55 service.
0:21:00 You could make AI images for other Instagram accounts, for other brands, for other creators,
0:21:05 who don’t want to do this themselves, don’t know how to do this themselves.
0:21:06 You’re a pro.
0:21:07 You can go do that for them.
0:21:10 The second way would be brand deals and sponsored content.
0:21:12 How do influencers make money?
0:21:14 That’s one way that a lot of them do.
0:21:19 I think the following would have to grow significantly before that’s really viable.
0:21:22 If you’re at 1,900, you’d want to see it at 1,900, 1,000.
0:21:29 Every time you can level up, your clout improves in terms of what you can charge and what brands
0:21:30 you can get.
0:21:36 The third would be to create an audience-facing product, like maybe in this case, an AI-generated
0:21:37 coloring book or something like that.
0:21:42 It could be print on demand through Amazon, whatever, but an audience-facing product in
0:21:43 that same niche.
0:21:49 Fourth would be you could create a course on how to generate AI images if that’s something
0:21:50 that your audience is interested in.
0:21:54 I guess you could do a quick poll and say, “Hey, is this something that you would like?”
0:21:59 Or you could even do a pre-sale, “Hey, if I get 20 customers, I’ll build this.”
0:22:01 Refund people’s money if they don’t want it.
0:22:03 And then lastly would be affiliate promos.
0:22:08 I don’t know if mid-journey or any of these other AI art tools, if they have an affiliate
0:22:12 program or referral program, but that would be another way to go if your followers want
0:22:17 to learn how to create this stuff themselves, “Hey, you’re going to want to start with
0:22:21 a free trial of this thing, and maybe that converts into a paid thing, and maybe that
0:22:24 converts into an affiliate commission for you down the road.”
0:22:26 But you’re increasing your luck surface area.
0:22:28 You’re doing something that you care about.
0:22:30 You’re telling people about it through this account.
0:22:34 And so I think positive things can come from that.
0:22:35 Question 10.
0:22:36 This is our final question for this episode.
0:22:41 It says, “I’m starting a new website, but I’m not sure what to put on my about page,
0:22:44 especially since it’s going to be my first entry.”
0:22:49 And the good news here is that your about page doesn’t require any additional posts
0:22:50 on the site.
0:22:52 It can be all about you and your target readers.
0:22:56 It’s a good place to share your excitement and hopefully your credentials to talk about
0:23:00 your topic and what readers can expect to find on your site.
0:23:04 For example, I use the Side Hustle Nation About page to share a little about me, a little
0:23:12 bit about my background, but really to also try and describe and connect with that ideal
0:23:17 Side Hustle Nation reader and how I can help them achieve what they want.
0:23:20 It’s not people are tuned into the “What’s in it for me?” type of thing.
0:23:24 And of course, I want to invite them to dive deeper into the content, join the email list.
0:23:29 The about page says, “My entrepreneurial journey began at an early age, selling candy to my
0:23:33 fellow Boy Scouts at summer camp and eventually painting houses in college.
0:23:35 After graduation, I did what you’re supposed to do.
0:23:40 I got a full-time job for a giant corporation, but I built my business nights and weekends.
0:23:41 You can do it too.
0:23:43 Look, everybody’s got their own reasons to Side Hustle.
0:23:44 Maybe you want to make extra money.
0:23:46 Maybe you want to pay off debt.
0:23:47 Maybe you want to learn new skills.
0:23:49 Maybe you want to use your free time more productively.
0:23:51 Maybe you want to escape the rat race.
0:23:54 Whatever your reason, I’m here to help.”
0:23:59 The about page also includes a list of 25 random facts about me along with some pet peeves,
0:24:04 which are really designed to just personalize the words on the screen.
0:24:11 Like yes, there’s a real human here who has been studying this whole make extra money
0:24:14 thing for a long time and would like to help you make some for yourself.
0:24:19 And the other important thing with your about page or really with any website content, it’s
0:24:20 not set in stone.
0:24:25 You can always go back and update it later as the business evolves.
0:24:26 That is it for me.
0:24:27 Thank you so much for tuning in.
0:24:31 Until next time, let’s go out there and make something happen, and I’ll catch you in the
0:24:33 next edition of the Side Hustle Show.
0:24:35 Hustle on.
0:24:39 As a Side Hustle Show listener, I know you’re driven, otherwise you wouldn’t be here.
0:24:44 But I also know you can end up hustling and driving yourself into exhaustion, overwhelm,
0:24:49 and even burnout if you don’t stay anchored to why you’re doing it.
0:24:53 That’s why I want to recommend another podcast that will massively support your Side Hustle.
0:24:56 It’s called What Drives You with host Kevin Miller.
0:24:58 Kevin’s a former pro athlete.
0:25:02 He’s a lifelong entrepreneur who started 19 different businesses.
0:25:06 He’s a father of nine kids, an author and a mountain adventurer as well.
0:25:10 He knows both the glory and the dark side of drive and has devoted his life to helping
0:25:16 people who want to drive further, faster, but also enjoy the ride every single day.
0:25:20 He brings on today’s most influential people in personal and business development to see
0:25:24 what drives them and get their guidance on the key ingredients that power our own drive.
0:25:29 If you want to fully harness your drive and find peace and fulfillment in the process,
0:25:33 go find What Drives You with Kevin Miller, wherever you listen to podcasts.